[18] Bevel and Nash did not attend, and instead watched Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech on television. James Luther Bevel (born 1936) was a civil rights activist of the 1960s who aligned himself with Martin Luther King, Jr. James Luther Bevel was born in the farming community of Ittabena, Mississippi, on October 19, 1936. Bevel was born in 1936 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of Illie and Dennis Bevel. And I am wondering how it is that you and your siblings, you particularly, were able to do it. He was 72. But when I was there, I actually saw it. James Bevel, was an icon of the civil-rights movement who worked closely with the Rev. Family members who confronted Bevel in 2004 during a family meeting testified that Bevel read a written accusation by his daughter and replied that he did not contest the facts as laid out by his daughter. She later, she asked me to recount a tale - some other woman who in new environment, what happened. And he usually - he played the role of judge and jury in these meetings. Ms. MILLS: Is he appealing? She said he told her, "I got you the right to vote. [23] Bevel continued to oppose the Poor People's Campaign, but served as its Director of Nonviolent Education. The Sad Fall of James Bevel. | PostBourgie And I wanted so much for him, not just to be a grandfather for grandfather's sake, but for him to find healing in himself and to come to some peace in himself so that he could be a grandfather and father. He is a celebrity civil rights leader. Although Bevel initially intended to pursue a recording career, he felt called to Christian ministry. How much you describe it? [13] SCLC's remaining Board of Directors removed Bevel from his leadership positions in 1969. The Rev. Much of it was revealed during a 2008 trial that ended with her father, the Rev. And he placed himself in the position of being the person who was going to save the world. . Copyright 2008 NPR. As Dr. Martin Luther King's collaborator, Bevel was a key strategist of the Southern Civil Rights Movement. "I am equally devastated and disgusted by his pedophilia.". Ms. MILLS: Her - the exact statement was that I spelled molest wrong. Sherri talked a little about being the daughter of the iconic Civil Rights leaders. [5] He suggested that SCLC call for and join a March on Washington in 1963. Jurors heard a phone call between Bevel and his daughter in which he never explicitly admits to sexual intercourse but seems to take for granted that it occurred. They moved to Alabama to implement the project along with Birmingham student activist James Orange. James Luther Bevel, one of 17 children, was born on Oct 19, 1936, in Itta Bena, in central Mississippi, and divided his childhood between there and Cleveland, where he worked in the steel mills as a teenager. 1 and Tennessee was No. [14], The Open Theater Movement, led by Bevel, had success in Nashville, the only city in the country where SCLC activists had organized such an action. Bevel selected the student teams for the buses. At the turn of the 20th century, southern state legislatures had passed new constitutions and laws that effectively disenfranchised most blacks. But it's this idea that he was teaching all his daughters to look at the evils in the world and within men whatever - whoever the man was, whether it's your father or the guy next door or your husband. . He was recently released on bond while appealing a. He subsequently joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), serving as project director and becoming one of the most influential advisers to the SCLCs head, Martin Luther King, Jr. On Bevels recommendation, hundreds of youth were mobilized in 1963 in the childrens crusade to participate in peaceful antisegregation protests in downtown Birmingham, Ala. James Bevel's Life Path Number is 3 as per numerology. Enoch Bevel Spring 2010. Bevel was in the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis and witnessed King's assassination on April 4, 1968. While working on SNCC's commitment to desegregate theaters, Bevel successfully directed the 1961 Nashville Open Theater Movement. How do you understand that? And I'd never see my brothers and sisters again. We will have a link to it on our website. In 1963, as the Alabama project director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization led by Dr. King, Mr. Bevel persuaded Dr. King to allow children to participate in antisegregation demonstrations, in which they would almost surely face arrest. In 1992, he was vice presidential running mate to political maverick Lyndon LaRouche, who has a home in Loudoun County but at the time was in a federal prison for a tax conviction. He was tried in April 2008, convicted of incest, sentenced to 15 years in prison, [11] and fined $50,000. Her father, the Rev. MARTIN: Have you spoken to your father since the trial? James L. Bevel dies at 72; civil rights activist and top lieutenant to King", "Bevel v. Commonwealth (Va.Ct.App., 14 Sept. 2010)", "Bevel v. Commonwealth (Va.S.Ct., 4 Nov. 2011)", "Years After Change, Activist Lives Her Conviction", "Common Is James Bevel, Andre Holland Is Andrew Young In Ava DuVernay's Mlk Tale 'Selma', (see request for download at bottom of page). A one-time top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for having sex more than a decade ago with his then-teenage daughter. That was very hard for me. Just a man with human frailty perhaps incapable of facing himself in the end.". James Luther Bevel, (born Oct. 19, 1936, Itta Bena, Miss., U.S.died Dec. 19, 2008, Springfield, Va.), American minister and political activist who played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement in the early 1960s. [12], In 1960, along with James Lawson's and Myles Horton's students Bernard Lafayette, John Lewis, Diane Nash, C.T. They, Nash, and others stayed in Mississippi to work on grassroots organizing. And I think, all of us were abused in some way or another. Historian Taylor Branch quotes King in At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 19651968 (2006) as saying that "Andrew Young had given in to doubt, Bevel to brains, and Jackson to ambition", and said that the movement had made them and now they were using the movement to promote themselves. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. "Everyone dies. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He reminded SCLC's executive board and staff that evening that King had left "marching orders" that, if anything should happen to him, he intended for Abernathy to take his place as SCLC's Chairman. And I hid them in her purse or in her shoes and things. Bevel suggested recruiting students in the campaign. And she was telling things that I experienced and that connected to me. I secured political freedoms for you." James L. Bevel, 71, a key architect of the 1963 Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Ala., and other pivotal moments of the civil rights movement, was convicted earlier this year of a. Ms. MILLS: Well, in that it was going to be in the news, the story the side of the - my side should be told. "My hope was for him to apologize in a Christian way, to repent. Watching her 3-year-old daughter, Athena, clad in a pink leotard, twirl around her bright downtown Washington apartment, Aaralyn Liese says she cant help but be reminded of her own childhood. As a girl she was repeated molested by her father the Reverend James Bevel, one of the most brilliant and daring strategists of the civil rights movement, an Icon. Following the nationwide publicity generated by Jackson's death and the previous attack on peaceful marchers, hundreds of religious, labor and civic leaders, many celebrities, and activists and citizens of many ethnicities traveled to Selma to join the march. *James Bevel was born on this date in 1936. Ms. MILLS: Right. Ms. MILLS: Well, it was in part my own experience when I left home at 16, and I went to stay with the Bruderhof, which is a Christian community similar to the Amish in Pennsylvania. She'd like to see abusers get help as well. It has been more than a year since I sat with my older brother at my father's side, watching him slowly succumb to pancreatic cancer. MARTIN: You confronted your father at one point. Thank you so much for speaking with us. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. King wanted to fill the jails with protesters, but it was becoming more difficult to find adults to march. The daughter is one of at least 14 children Bevel has with several different women, according to her testimony on Monday. "People don't just wake up one morning and stop being a pedophile," Orrin said. MARTIN: Your father's name is one that appears in many, many history books. Sentencing guidelines called for probation only. Ms. MILLS: Yeah, it was - it was like intervention, but for my father it was a meeting, it was a, you know, you present your case, I'll present my case. Orrin and several of her siblings finally took action against him four years ago out of concern for his 7-and-a half-year-old daughter. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Residents ask school board where is the outrage after drag performance; school system will revise agreement with Forsyth Tech, No new vaccinations would be allowed in North Carolina for 3 years under bill filed in N.C. House, Slice of Napoli closing; new pizza place moving in, Jim Spivey, a former athletics director at Reynolds High School, dies. After the verdict, Bevel claimed that the charges were part of a conspiracy to destroy his reputation, and said that he might appeal. Last week, Joanna Connors a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer told us about how 20 years later being raped still made her feel powerless and ashamed. Bevel died Friday in Virginia. Practices such as requiring payment of poll taxes and literacy tests administered in a discriminatory way by white officials maintained the exclusion of blacks from the political system in the 1960s. And then, so what are the options for children? MARTIN: So in his world, he decides what true and not true. Ms. MILLS: Perhaps. "[33] When Bevel introduced LaRouche at a convention of the 1996 National African American Leadership Summit, both men were booed off the stage. He also is the man who persuaded . His contention that convicted assassin James Earl Ray was not guilty of Kings murder embarrassed many in the movement. Ms. MILLS: I haven't spoken to him since the trial. But prosecutors said his illness should not temper his sentence. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And you describe this - I don't know what words to use, it's almost like a trial at - so you decided you should put him on trial, and then he defended himself in this, I don't even really know how to describe it. She spoke out about her abuse to protect a younger sister. He was tried in April 2008, convicted of incest, sentenced to 15 years in prison,[11] and fined $50,000. "It's fading, but I still have a strong feeling that my father was doing something, that he was working on some truth," said Mills, who agreed to be identified publicly. But this was the meeting in which we called other members of the community, Bernard Layfette and Will Sanders and as well as relatives. He often wore overalls over a shirt and tie; he shaved his head and sometimes covered it with a yarmulke in honor of Old Testament prophets. He worked on a cotton plantation for a time as a youth and later in a steel mill. And I remember in school they talked about good touches and bad touches, but the difference was, I didn't trust the people in school. [17] Activists encountered severe violence at that time and retreated to regroup. The Court of Appeals affirmed this judgment. I've never known him to be a liar. All rights reserved. Liese also shares custody of an 11-year-old son with her first husband, with whom the boy lives. You had moved on with your life, but there was another young girl, another child he had had through a subsequent marriage. The daughter testified that she went back because she had nowhere else to go. James Bevel was one of the key strategists of the civil rights movement. The demonstrations, early that year, overwhelmed the city, and the news coverage, complete with televised images of black children being arrested or soaked and bowled over by law enforcement officers wielding powerful fire hoses, helped rally much of the American public to the side of the civil rights movement. [7], Prior to his time with SCLC, Bevel worked in the Nashville Student Movement, which conducted the 1960 Nashville Lunch-Counter Sit-Ins, the 1961 Open Theater Movement, and recruited students to continue the 1961 Freedom Rides after they were attacked. 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MARTIN: Aaralyn Mills tells her powerful story of rape and recovery in the pages of the Washington Post Magazine. But, you know, I was sad because I knew that he wouldn't be a grandfather. We didn't know each other really, and we were just getting to know each other, but I didn't know how difficult it would be. Eventually, her former husband agreed. She and several of her siblings compiled affidavits detailing sexual abuse and confronted their father. Kennedy's staff, who already were drafted one, came to an agreement on its contents with SCLC's leadership. I think he's more like a spoiled child in which he has been doing and being the way he is for so long that he gets away with it. Less than a month after his sentencing in October 2008, Bevel was released from prison on appeal. The news coverage, which featured children being water-hosed by police and more than 600 youth being arrested, prompted a groundswell of support for the civil rights movement. James Bevel was one of seventeen children born to a sharecropping family in Itta Bena, Mississippi. [32] He engaged in LaRouche seminars on issues including "Is the Anti Defamation League the new KKK? He and the others were arrested after they arrived in Jackson, Mississippi and tried to desegregate the waiting rooms in the bus terminal. Another daughter, Sherilynn Bevel, confirmed the death, The Washington Post reported. And in order to make the case in the absence of physical evidence which is long since disappeared because you had grown up and moved away from being the zone of harm is that you confronted your father in a recorded monitored conversation with law enforcement where you confronted him about his behavior. Legal Statement. ", (For more information about the support group, call Orrin at 722-4671.). Orrin has undergone years of counseling to deal with the abuse she said she suffered from her father. And I would always tell her the things that he did to me and what he would say if he got a chance to do it to her. In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), two of the stalwart organizations that led efforts to desegregate the South. They divorced after seven years. The Surprising Origins of #MeToo - New York Times But what options do they have. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Luther-Bevel, African American Registry - Biography of James Bevel, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle - Biography of James Luther Bevel. Orrin said he made no denials. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Ms. MILLS: I feel almost as if it's something I had to do. He entered the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville in 1957; he graduated and was ordained in 1961. He decides what's right and not right. Bevel's daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by Bevel beginning when she was just 6 years old, culminating in an act of sexual intercourse in 1993 or 1994 that formed the basis of the incest charge. And I realized that, one, that it wasn't just you know, one way to live. During the trial, Bevel's daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by Bevel beginning when she was just 6 years old, culminating in sexual intercourse in 1993 or 1994 that formed the basis of the incest charge. MARTIN: How did you become aware that this was wrong? She testified Tuesday that he had sexual intercourse with her when she was 15 in the early 1990s after he pressured her by saying the sex would relieve him from demons that were sapping his strength. I don't believe so. In May 2007, Bevel was arrested in Alabama on a charge of incest committed sometime between October 1992 and October 1994 in Loudoun County, Virginia. She is telling us her story of rape and recovery. [41] He married two other women in the following decades, and had told the court during his incest case that he had 16 children born of seven women. But he was also a child predator, who exploited the trust of his family by molesting his daughter Aaralyn Mills. James Bevel (Common) - 'Selma' Actors Side-By-Side with Their - Zimbio All rights reserved. MARTIN: How do you understand this as this kind of culture of acceptance of abuse of children? So, I grew up with a fear of society and of people, and a great mistrust for the system and a great trust in my father. This information, his behavior in now also part of history. He worked on a cotton plantation for a time as a youth and later in a steel mill. So, we can assess it based on the truth or the facts in the matter and not just conspiracy as my father had called. In 1963, SCLC agreed to assist its co-founder, Fred Shuttlesworth, and others in their work on desegregating retail businesses and jobs in Birmingham, Alabama, where discussion and negotiations with city officials had yielded few results. In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, two of the stalwart organizations that led efforts to desegregate the South.
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